Aeronautics: Masses Like Infantry

On the coast of Tuscany, 100 miles northwest of Rome, lies the tiny port
of Orbetello. The protecting shoulder of a great mountain (from which
Napoleon's Elba can be seen 40 miles out to sea) guards it from high
winds. Long sand spits make the mountain look "like a great ship moored
by its three ropes of sand"; more important, they make smooth as a
millpond the blue lagoons lying on either side of the town. There in
winter fat eels are snared for the Christmas tables of Italy. There in...